BBC like the 'Duckhouse gang' for not disclosing star salaries, say MPs

The BBC is acting like the ‘Duckhouse gang’ of MPs in its refusal to disclose
what it pays its top stars, according to the Public Accounts Committee.

Members of the influential PAC questioned Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC and other executives on the amount of licence fee payers' money it spent at large music and sporting events.Photo: PA

The corporation's executives who are "obsessed with celebrity" were to blame for the BBC spending a fifth of its budget for one sporting event on presenters, according to its chairman, Edward Leigh.

Members of the influential committee questioned Mark Thompson, the director general of the BBC and other executives on the amount of licence fee payers’ money it spent at large music and sporting events.

The corporation did not know in advance how much it would spend covering individual events, from the Beijing Olympics to the Glastonbury festival, because so many departments were involved and they did not liaise on budgets, according to the damning National Audit Office report published last month.

The total expenditure for sport and music events in the 2008-09 financial year was £357 million, including coverage and rights.

The public spending watchdog singled out the BBC’s construction of a £250,000 studio in Vienna for the euro 2008 football championships because the one allocated did not have a backdrop of the city skyline.

Related Articles

Mr Leigh, the chairman of the public accounts committee which oversees the NAO, said the cost of the studio was “extravagant” and criticised the BBC for not disclosing how much it paid its top stars for sporting events.

A fifth of the budget for one such event went on presenters, he said, but its identity was kept secret to prevent anyone knowing what an individual star might have earned.

"Wimbledon, the lead presenter is Sue Barker; Euro 2008, the lead presenter is Gary Lineker; Olympics, the lead presenter is Gabby Logan.

"Don't you think there is some right for the public to know where there licence fee is going, especially as I suspect tens of thousands of pounds are being paid to individuals?

The sums paid to BBC 'talent' such as Jonathan Ross – who was a reported to be on £16.9m three-year deal with the BBC – has been a lightning rod for public discontent over broadcasting salaries.

Others on large contracts are said to include Jeremy Paxman, reported to be paid £1 million, and Fiona Bruce, thought to earn £800,000 a year.

Douglas Carswell MP, a conservative member of the PAC committee, said the BBC were acting like MPs in their refusal to disclose star salaries.

He said: "My constituents are forced to pay for you and the BBC, so why wont you tell them which presenters are being paid what? Let me put it another way, listening to some of the justifications you give for not doing so, reminds me of the arguments put forward by the Duck house gang in this place about why there shouldn't be disclosures in the name of transparency.

"Any institution can find exceptions for what they believe why they shouldn't disclose, why shouldn't they know?" he said.

Following questioning from MPs, the BBC agreed to reveal licence fee-funded payments to some of its leading sports presenters to a House of Commons spending watchdog but not to the public.

Jeremy Peat, a BBC trustee, said the BBC had to protect the confidentiality of pay deals with its "top talent" and that revealing the split between talent and other staff for each event would make it "possible for people, on the basis of information which is available or could be made available, to get a very good approximation of the cost of some individual talent for some of these events".

But he told Mr Leigh: "If you would wish this information I could write in confidence to you with this information."

All of the NAO's recommendations have been accepted and will be followed up, he added.

Mr Thompson said the BBC would shortly publish the total the BBC spends on top stars, however he defended the policy of not publishing the pay of the leading talent but not individual breakdowns.

He said: "We think it would be commercially, in terms of our ability to attract and retain the best talent, deleterious. And we think it would have the effect of putting the prices up.

"We think there are practical reasons against it and we have made this case to the Information Commission who, in the context of freedom of information, has accepted the arguments."

The BBC is expected to publish round of expenses for its executives on Wednesday.

Previous expenses files published by the broadcaster showed that 29 members of staff enjoyed a £1,430.88 dinner courtesy of the taxpayer at the Bellagio hotel in Vegas.

The last disclosure in November revealed that the BBC is paying its 100 most senior staff a total of £20 million a year.